political perspectives from Joni Hudson-Reynolds, an African-American Mom

What did the Occupy Movement Accomplish?

This summer we saw Occupy Movements springing up everywhere. They didn’t all seem to be on the same page, but they did all know something simply was not right. They railed against the 1% and touted the 99%, but what did they actually accomplish? This question is not meant to be rhetorical I want answers and if you’ve got one send it to me. When the Tea Party rose to prominence they were angry too, but they did get some of their members elected to the House and the Senate with a goal of changing things within. So that brings me back to the original question what did the Occupiers accomplish and do you think they squandered their 15 minutes? Tell me hat you think.

Comments

The Occupy Movement accomplished nothing because the “occupiers” were not organized enough to accomplish anything. They thought that sitting in public (and sometimes private) spaces would make a change. That is nonsense. They wasted their time, and wasted millions of dollars of public money.

Much of what they accomplished won’t register where it needs to register. They demonized those who are in the top 1% as far as income as evil and self-centered, urging them to “pay their fair share”. Well, here in California the top 1% must earn in excess of $500,000 to qualify. As of last year, those 1%ers paid about 46% of ALL income taxes in this state. One percent pays almost HALF the income taxes, and that apparently is not enough. They should pay more?? When you ask the typical OWS person this, they stammer something about their share as a percentage of their income being insufficient, yada yada. They say NOTHING about the roughly 50% of Californians who pay NO income tax. Everyone should pay SOMETHING, even if it’s $100 a year (Roughly $8/month or $2/wk.) It’s not the amount, it’s the principle.

If they thought they were going to bring Wall Street to it’s knees they were deluded. Some of that pizza and Red Bull that was donated “anonymously” was sent to them by the very people they were picketing. They did it as a lark! These protestors didn’t stop to question the source of the largesse, they just chowed down. They cost local municipalities MILLIONS of dollars to clean up their mess–far more than any Tea Party gathering– and were heralded as heroes and “the common man” by a liberal media. I noted on a previous posting that SNL lampooned the Tea Party Movement on many an episode, yet I don’t recall seeing them do the same with OWS. If that isn’t bias I do not know what is.

OWS needs to decide what it stands for and offer up solutions. Just stating that “something is not right” and not offering up workable, achievable solutions will get them nowhere. (At this point someone may comment that they did publish a list of things they wanted. simply put, they published a dream sheet and not a process. Don’t tell us “we need free health care” and not mention how it will be enacted. Don’t say “we need jobs that pay a minimum living wage of $25/hr” and not mention how that can work without destroying our economy.)

So we shall see. Will they take the winter off and come again anew in the spring? I hope not. Will they completely forget their movement when people start hiring again? Probably.

The occupiers did an excellent job of forgetting or missing a root of our most recent economic downfall (and maybe THE root). They thought it was greedy wall street people. Bzzzzt. It was the implosion of the HUD subprime housing loan market.

Housing and Community Development Act of 1992: Placed Congress, effectively, in control over what defined “affordable housing goals.” Those goals were set by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Government pressure (1999) and proper lending rules were inexplicably dropped (2004) which made it easier for high-risk borrowers to own homes via HUD.